Psyllid ecology and biodiversity in the pacific Northwest

Abstract

Potato in the fourth-most-valuable commodity in Washington State. The emergence of Zebra chip disease (“ZC”) has triggered economic losses in the U.S. Pacific Northwest (“PNW”) With a ca. 7% increment in the total cost of potato production, endangering the economic Viability of the region. The vector of the ZC pathogen, Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum (“Lso”) is the potato psyllid (“PP”), bactericera cockerellli (Sulc) (Hemiptera: Triozidae). The Overall aim of the research was to study the PP ecology on a non-crop host, bittersweet Nightshade (Solanum dulcamara L.) (“BN”), and determine presence of Lso. Chapter 1 is a Introduction of the importance of ZC. Chapter 2 presents the population dynamics of PPs living BN in Eastern.